1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus of the type in which thermal energy is imagewise patterned applied to a toner sheet with a thin film, and after several steps of peeling-off and development, an imagewise patterned thin film is finally transferred onto an image supporting member.
2. Description of the Background Art
An image forming apparatus is known in which thermal energy is imagewise applied to a toner sheet with a thin film thereon, an imagewise patterned thin film is transferred from the toner sheet onto an image receiving sheet by the step of peeling-off/development, and the imagewise patterned thin film is transferred again from the image receiving sheet onto a permanent image supporting member (JP-A-7-290731).
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing this image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member supplying section 132, an image forming drum 134, a photosensitive member fixing/releasing mechanism 136 located on the image forming drum 134, a laminate mechanism 138 disposed along the outer circumference of the image forming drum 134, an exposure head 140, a peeling-off mechanism 142, a paper supplying section 144, a laminate section 146, a fixing section 148, a peeling-off section 150, a tray section 152, and a control unit.
An image receiving member 12 and a toner sheet 10 of a first color (for example, C (cyan))are supplied from the photosensitive member supplying section 132 to the image forming drum 134.
The image receiving member 12 is fixed onto the drum 134 by means of the photosensitive member fixing/releasing mechanism 136.
Then, the toner sheet is pressed against the image forming drum by means of the laminate mechanism 138, so that the toner sheet 10 is laminated on the image receiving member 12. Then, a laser exposure of the laminated sheet is carried out in a heat mode by use of the exposure head 140, which is controlled in accordance with an image signal by the control unit. As a result, an image is recorded on the toner sheet as a latent image.
Thereafter, the toner sheet 10 is peeled off from the image receiving member 12 fixed onto the image forming drum 134, by means of the a peeling-off mechanism 142, and only the coloring material of the image formed as the latent image is transferred to the image receiving member 12, and developed. Subsequently, the coloring materials of images of second to fourth colors (for example, Y (yellow), M (magenta), C(cyan) and K (black)), which are to be formed as latent images, are transferred to the image receiving member 12 and developed in similar ways.
The image receiving member 12 having the images of all the colors formed thereon is peeled off from the drum 134, and transported to the laminate section 146. In the laminate section 146, a paper sheet (final image supporting member) 14 that is supplied from the paper supplying section 144 is registered with and superposed on the image receiving member 12 by a register roller pair 75. Then, the resultant is transported to the fixing section 148. In the fixing section 148, it is nipped and transmitted with a heating/fixing roller pair 76, whereby the image is heated and fixed. Thereafter, in the peeling-off section 150, the imagewise patterned coloring material is transferred from the image receiving member 12 onto the paper sheet 14, and the paper sheet 14 bearing the image transferred thereon is discharged as a hard copy into the tray section 152.
In the conventional apparatus described in the prior art discussion as above, the lamination of the image receiving member laminated on and the paper sheet is nipped with the heating/fixing roller pair 76 of the fixing section 148, and simultaneously compressed and heated. However, it is necessary to position the image receiving member 12 relative to the paper sheet 14 or put those to be in register before the heating/fixing process. Such simultaneous positioning of two things, viz., the image receiving member 12 and the paper sheet 14, requires fine adjustments for the transporting speeds of them, for example, and leads to increase of the possibility of causing the jam and displacements (or out-of-register of them). A possible reliable solution to the problem of the jam and the out-of-register is to take the following procedure. That is, following the transferring of the latent image to the image receiving member 12 and the developing of it, the image receiving member 12 is stripped off from the drum, and taken out of the apparatus by manual. Then it is manually superposed on the paper sheet 14 as the final image supporting member, and the image is transferred again to the paper sheet. In the process of the re-transferring process including the taking the image receiving member out of the apparatus by manual, dust inevitably sticks to those members. The sticking of dust forms a cause to deteriorate the quality of the resultant image.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which an overall image forming process is automated while securing a stable transporting capability, and carried out in a through-process manner, prevents the dust sticking, and well performs the re-transferring of the image onto the paper sheet.